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Posted at: 11/02/2009 6:14 PM | WHEC.com Firefighter cutbacks in City of Canandaigua?
The economy may be affecting your personal safety. News 10NBC learned Monday that the City of Canandaigua wants to reduce the number of paid firefighters. The city wants to layoff half of the fire department to close a budget gap. Scott Mackey is a Merchant in Canandaigua. He says, “It scares me that the city would consider doing something like this.” Mackey has been in business on South Main Street in Canandaigua for five years. He chose Canandaigua because of the quality of life. However, he says a new proposal before the City Council could compromise all that he and his partner have built. “It is outrageous for a taxpayer to be put in harm’s way just because the city has a budget problem.” Mackey is referring to the proposal to layoff eight of the city’s 14 firefighters. The city is facing a $1.7 million budget deficit. The proposal also includes cutting seven other positions, as well as implementing a small property tax increase. Kay James, the Canandaigua City Manager says, “Our residents have said we can’t have our taxes increased that much. There are people out there who have no jobs at all who still have property taxes to pay, who still have bills to pay…so it’s a balancing act.” James says a number of communities protect their citizens very well with all volunteer firefighters. She says her proposal would still leave a mix of career and volunteer firefighters. One merchant agrees. Taysha Palmer, of Teschner’s Design, says, “I’m not educated about how many staff you need…to keep the population safe, but from my own experience, the volunteer firefighters were excellent.” However, firefighters say it’s outrageous. They are prepared to fight. Matt Fusco represents the Firefighters’ Union. He says, “These are paid firefighters who are trained to do the kinds of fabulous work like they did in the trench cave in rescue last week.” Fusco says, “The only reason that guy is alive today is because they had paid firefighters who have the time to train for that kind of event.” Fusco says this is a violation of labor laws and says the city would have to negotiate with the union before approving the measure. He says if the city goes ahead and approves the proposal without doing that, he has a lawsuit already prepared and ready to go. So what’s next? The City Council has final approval. The community can weigh in on the measure at a public hearing Thursday, November 19th at City Hall. The meeting is scheduled for seven o’clock. For more Rochester, NY news, go to our website, www.whec.com.
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Safety in numbers. 